WPCafe MCP Server

Connect any MCP-compatible AI assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and others — to your WordPress site running the WPCafe restaurant plugin.

Once connected, your AI assistant can manage reservations, food orders, locations, QR codes, settings, analytics, and every other feature available in the WPCafe admin panel.

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What you can do

Category	Actions
Reservations	List, get, create, update, delete, bulk delete, cancel, check time slots, check capacity
Food Orders	List, get, update status, delete (WooCommerce orders)
Products	List food menu items, get product details, list categories
Locations	List, get, create, update, delete, bulk delete branches
QR Codes	List, get, create, update, delete scan-to-order QR codes
Settings	Get all settings, get public settings, update settings
Dashboard	Overview stats, food order analytics, reservation analytics, top-selling products
Modules	List extensions, enable/disable modules, get integrations, get addon plugins
Pro — Seat Plans	List, get, create, update, delete visual floor layouts
Pro — Discounts	List, get, create, update, delete discount codes
Pro — Receipts	List receipt layouts, get order receipt
Pro — Timed Products	List, create time-availability rules for menu items

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or later
• WPCafe plugin (free) installed and active on your WordPress site
• WordPress user with Administrator or Shop Manager role
• A WordPress Application Password (created in WP Admin → Users → Your Profile)

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Setup

Step 1 — Create a WordPress Application Password

1. Go to WordPress Admin → Users → Your Profile
2. Scroll down to Application Passwords
3. Enter a name (e.g. WPCafe MCP) and click Add New Application Password
4. Copy the password shown — it looks like xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
5. Keep it somewhere safe; WordPress will not show it again

Step 2 — Configure your AI client

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wpcafe": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:themewinter/wpcafe-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WPCAFE_SITE_URL": "https://yoursite.com",
        "WPCAFE_USERNAME": "your-admin-username",
        "WPCAFE_APP_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. WPCafe tools will appear automatically.

Cursor / VS Code (MCP extension)

{
  "servers": {
    "wpcafe": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:themewinter/wpcafe-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WPCAFE_SITE_URL": "https://yoursite.com",
        "WPCAFE_USERNAME": "your-admin-username",
        "WPCAFE_APP_PASSWORD": "xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Any other MCP client

The server speaks standard MCP over stdio. Use npx -y github:themewinter/wpcafe-mcp as the command with the three env vars set.

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Example prompts

Show me all pending reservations for today.

Create a reservation for John Smith (john@example.com) on 2026-07-01 at 7pm for 4 guests.

List all food orders with status "processing".

What were the top 10 selling items this month?

Update the primary color in WPCafe settings to #FF5722.

Create a QR code named "Table 12" for location ID 3.

Enable the Delivery module.

Show me the dashboard overview for the past week.

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Optional: Enable full write access

By default the server works with Application Password authentication. A small subset of WPCafe operations (reservation creation, food-order listing) use WordPress's CSRF nonce system, which requires a one-time server-side snippet.

If you hit a message like "This operation requires a WordPress security nonce", add this to your site's functions.php (or any active plugin):

add_action( 'rest_api_init', function () {
    register_rest_route( 'wpcafe/v2', '/nonce', [
        'methods'             => 'GET',
        'callback'            => fn() => [
            'nonce'   => wp_create_nonce( 'wp_rest' ),
            'expires' => time() + 43200,
        ],
        'permission_callback' => 'is_user_logged_in',
    ] );
} );

Alternatively, upload wordpress-plugin/wpcafe-mcp-bridge.php (included in this repo) to your wp-content/plugins/ directory and activate it in WP Admin — same effect, no code editing required.

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Security

How authentication works

1. You create an Application Password in your WordPress profile — it is separate from your login password and can be revoked at any time.
2. The MCP server sends it with every request as an Authorization: Basic header.
3. WordPress verifies it and authenticates the request as that user.
4. All WPCafe permission checks (capabilities, roles) still apply — the MCP server does not bypass them.

What the MCP server does NOT do

• It does not store or cache credentials on disk.
• It does not bypass WordPress capability checks.
• It does not expose any endpoint that isn't already in the WPCafe REST API.
• It does not run any code inside WordPress — it only calls the existing REST API.

HTTPS requirement

Always use HTTPS for WPCAFE_SITE_URL. Application Passwords are sent in every request header; without HTTPS anyone on the network can read them. The server warns (but does not block) if it detects an HTTP URL for a non-localhost host.

Revoking access

Go to WordPress Admin → Users → Your Profile → Application Passwords and delete the WPCafe MCP entry. The server immediately loses access.

Role capabilities

Role	List / Get	Create	Update	Delete
Administrator	All resources	All resources	All resources	All resources
Shop Manager	Reservations, Orders, Products	Reservations	Order status, Reservation status	—
Staff (wpcafe_manage_*)	Own + all reservations/orders	—	Status only	—

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Troubleshooting

"HTTP 401 Unauthorized"

• Check that WPCAFE_USERNAME and WPCAFE_APP_PASSWORD are correct.
• Make sure Application Passwords are enabled (some security plugins disable them).
• Verify the user exists and has the right role.

"HTTP 403 Forbidden" The authenticated user does not have the required capability. Use an administrator or shop manager account.

"This operation requires a WordPress security nonce" Add the functions.php snippet above, or install wordpress-plugin/wpcafe-mcp-bridge.php.

Pro tools return 404 The wpcafe-pro plugin is not installed or not active. Pro tools are registered but return 404 on free-only installations.

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Development

git clone https://github.com/themewinter/wpcafe-mcp.git
cd wpcafe-mcp
npm install
npm run dev      # Run with tsx (no build step)
npm run build    # Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm start        # Run compiled output

To add new tools, create a register function in src/tools/ following the pattern of existing files, then call it in src/index.ts.

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License

GPL-2.0-or-later — same license as the WPCafe WordPress plugin.